Supporters of the proposed education amendment Initiative 42 are analyzing what happened after the measure failed by around 28,000 votes on Tuesday and considering what’s next for public schools.

Initiative 42 was a years-long push that began in 2014 with a citizen-sponsored petition that netted around 200,000 signatures of Mississippians across the state. Supporters, namely 42’s campaign Better Schools Better Jobs, continued to tweak the campaign after the Legislature brought forward a dueling amendment in January of this year.

Despite the loss, those with the campaign said Initiative 42 “was just the beginning.”

“Of the approximately 640,000 Mississippi voters who cast ballots on Tuesday – one of the lowest turnouts in state history – only about 25,000 more people voted against the amendment than voted for it. So no matter who claims ‘victory,’ our Legislature must now heed the call to do more to improve our public schools,” campaign co-managers Jonathan Compretta and Michael Rejebian said in a statement Wednesday. “Either that, or simply ignore the wishes of more than 300,000 of their citizens.”

Rep. Greg Snowden, the author of the legislature’s alternative to Initiative 42, said he believes the results shook out the way they did because in the weeks leading up to the election, people were “beginning to understand what the language of the constitution change was and what the effect of it would really be – to put education decisions into the hands of the court.”

42A, the Legislature’s alternative that 42 supporters said was crafted to split the vote, would have required the Legislature to provide an “effective” system of public schools, making no mention of judicial oversight.

In total, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, Initiative 42 received 313,870 votes compared to the alternative’s 221,096.

Snowden pointed out that despite claims from the 42 campaign that they believe confusion over the ballot contributed to the defeat, they told media during the day on Tuesday things were going smoothly with voters.

“Then curiously after they didn’t have their vote, they change their tune,” Snowden said.

Initiative 42 sought to change the constitution to require the state to provide an “adequate and efficient” system of public schools. It also specified that the chancery court could enforce the requirement, allowing people to sue if the standard was not met.

In the years since the Mississippi Adequate Education Program became law, the formula that stipulates how much money school districts need to provide an adequate education has been fully funded only twice. Supporters of Initiative 42 were hopeful that a constitutional amendment would force the Legislature’s hand and increase funding for school districts.

Some were surprised that Initiative 42 didn’t outright win many counties with strong public school systems. In Northeast Mississippi, 58 percent of voters in DeSoto County voted against changing the constitution, while only half of voters in Lafayette County voted for Initiative 42.

The measure had two hurdles to clear: first, a majority of voters must approve changing the state constitution. Second, a majority of voters must approve Initiative 42, and those voters must represent 40 percent of the total ballots cast in the election.

Initiative 42 failed to clear the first hurdle, ltrailing the entire night. In the end, 52 percent of voters, or 349,677 people, voted against changing the state constitution compared to the 322,419 who voted for changing it.

Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves gestures during a discussion about Mississippi voters rejecting a school funding proposal on Tuesday's ballot, during a sit down with reporters in his office at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 following yesterday's general election. Reeves said he is willing to put more money into efficient school systems that demonstrate strong academic performance.(Photo: Rogelio V. Solis, AP)

Lawmakers have said during the battle leading up to the election that the Legislature is trying to fully fund MAEP. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves cited funding levels over the last four years, which he said have increased by more than 25 percent of new revenue each year, the amount 42 supporters suggested the Legislature could phase in over a seven-year period.

Moving forward, supporters of Initiative 42 are hopeful that lawmakers received the message that fully funding public schools is important to voters.

Jim Barksdale, a major supporter and donor of the campaign, said lawmakers got what they wanted – no amendment to the state constitution.

“Now, get out and fund these schools at adequate levels. Nobody’s asking for superior levels – just adequate,” he said Wednesday. “I hope it causes us to really change our understanding of how serious this is to several hundreds of thousands of people.”

Asked whether the Legislature is planning to continue moving toward full funding of the MAEP, Reeves and House Speaker Philip Gunn said they want to try to spend more on education but neither is certain that the MAEP formula is the way to do so.

“It’s not working – and by not working I mean it is the constant source of conflict and disagreement,” Gunn said. “We need to find a way to make school funding workable and pass a budget without so much dispute. … But our goal is to increase performance, not just say give it more money. I’m not opposed to more money, but we need to see results.”

There is talk among lawmakers of tying funding to performance but few specifics on what that would look like. Snowden referred to the Legislature’s work the past few years to move toward performance and evidence-based budgeting for all stage agencies, including K-12.